„On your way to the ER? Make a quick stop at Wallmart to get some vitamins!“
I am using Organic Maps for all my navigation needs (mostly bike and pedestrian navigation).
And tell me how exactly this it’s good idea in an emergency? If a friend of mine had their car die in the middle of a snow storm or my wife was in labor I don’t think they’d appreciate me taking a detour to get fucking Wendy’s.
Edit: They’ve updated the article with a quote from Google saying it will be pop-ups that don’t do anything unless you tap on them. Still a pain in the ass with more dumb ads, but at least it’s not as stupid as it seemed initially.
That’s the thing though. They placed it exactly where they know people will click. I clicked the alternate route while driving yesterday, as traffic was getting worse, and suddenly I’m on the page of a business I am not at all interested in. They don’t give a fuck about people’s navigation at all.
Well that’s fucking dumb. Nothing like using the excuse that people aren’t going to read too far into a pop up while driving to get more of that sweet advertisement money.
Yey more ads on its way, can’t wait what else Google is in store for us
Thankfully other very good map apps exist, so people can jump to a new map app if google gets fucky with the core functionality of it
Any recommendations? So far, Google maps has remain my go-to despite my efforts to de-google myself.
OpenStreetMap, and the various clients for it. I personally am a big fan of Organic Maps, fast, responsive and clean. If you happen to be on iOS, I hear Apple Maps is also not as bad as Google, though also not open source.
For my use case of mixed public transportation i don’t think there’s anything OSM-based that comes even close to GMaps yet (i’d LOVE to be proven wrong here, i’m in the western EU area so lemme know if there’s something i can try)
Apple Maps is really good in that regard if your goal is just escaping Google. Still a Big Tech company, though.
Is there an OSM client that has live traffic info or incorporates live public transport schedules? This has been the only thing keeping me from switching.
AFAIK OpenStreetMap itself doesn’t have live traffic info, and I do not know of any client that has it, sorry :(
Magic Earth is another that’s polished and easy UI, plus it’s privacy respecting
Waze
I’m not sure if you’re joking, but Waze has been owned by Google for over a decade. It’s not a real alternative at this point.
Waze covering up important areas of the map (such as junctions I was supposed to get off at) with adverts for local businesses was what made me rapidly give up on it.
Google going full on with the enshitification here
And this kind of bullshit is why I stopped using anything Google, or at least heavily ad blocked like YouTube.
Apparently this was a UI glitch or dishonest reporting by the person that told Android Authority.
https://9to5google.com/2024/07/08/google-maps-pop-up-quick-detour-ad/
This maybe true, but I still feel bitter about that time Google Maps recommended me to take a fucking Lyft ride inside the JFK airport!!
It happened to me it was real
Organic Maps or Magic Earth?
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